EMPLOYER ADOPTION/ENFORCEMENT OF UNREASONABLE RULE – In General

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Because Charging Party could achieve separate representation for professional employees with a properly-filed petition for unit modification or decertification and a representation election for exclusive representation in its own name, rather than for continued representation by another employee organization who opposes severance, its reliance on PERB’s Regulations governing MMBA representation matters is misplaced. The MMBA grants public agencies the right to “adopt reasonable rules and regulations” for the administration of employer-employee relations, including for determining what constitutes “an appropriate unit” of employees for collective bargaining purposes. PERB must enforce and apply rules adopted by public agencies concerning unit determinations, representation, recognition, and elections and only has authority to assert jurisdiction and to conduct representation proceedings under PERB’s own Regulations where the public agency has no functionally equivalent local rules under which the petitioner can accomplish what it seeks without undue burden. (p. 15.)